Tom Kha Kai (Coconut-Galangal Chicken Soup)

“Tom kha kai is easy to make,” writes Leela Punyaratabandhu in the headnote to her recipe for coconut-galangal chicken soup in Simple Thai Food, from which this recipe is adapted. (Read our review of the book.) “If you can smash things, cut things and boil water, you can pull off this classic on the first try. The hardest part? getting your hands on the essential fresh seasonings.”

Agreed, all around.

We were able to pick up makrut lime leaves, fresh lemongrass and galangal at a local Asian supermarket, but we were unable to find the fresh bird’s eye chiles called for in Punyaratabandhu’s recipe. We didn’t worry too much about it, as the chiles are simply bruised at the end and added to the soup before serving, so we used red Thai long chiles, which seemed like a reasonable substitution in this case. (We hope Punyaratabandhu doesn’t disagree!)

Once we had those key fresh ingredients, making the soup was remarkably quick and easy — and so wonderful we’ll be making it often.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts

1 stalk lemongrass

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

2-inch piece galangal, thinly sliced

4 makrut lime leaves, torn into pieces and bruised

8 ounces oyster or white mushrooms

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

4 or 5 fresh bird’s eye or Thai chiles, bruised

1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken thighs against the grain and on the diagonal into thin, bite-sized pieces. If using oyster mushrooms, separate them into individual pieces. If the pieces are large, cut them into bite-sized pieces. If using white mushrooms, halve the small ones and quarter the bigger ones.

2. Trim off and discard the leafy parts of the lemongrass stalk, remove the tough outer leaves of the bulb portion until the smooth, pale green core is exposed, and trim off the root end. Quarter the bulb crosswise and smash the pieces with a heavy object until they are bruised and split. Set aside.

3. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the chicken broth and coconut milk and bring to a boil over high heat. Immediate turn down the heat so the liquid is barely bubbling. Add the galangal, lemongrass and lime leaves and steep for 1 minute. Add the chicken, mushrooms and fish sauce, stir, and increast the heat slightly so the liquid is simmering gently. Once the chicken is no longer pink, after about 2 minutes, remove the pan from the heat.

4. Add the lime juice and chiles and stir. Taste and correct the seasoning as needed. The soup should be sour and salty with natural sweetness from the coconut milk. Sprinkle the cilantro on top just before serving. Thai cooks do not usually remove the chunky herbs from food when they serve it, as it is understood that they are not to be eaten. But you can fish out the lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves before serving if you like.